Aquadudes Almost Invincible at Blodgett

The Harvard men's waterpolo team posted a 4-1 record at the New England League Championships at Blodgett Pool this weekend.

Harvard (6-8) played some of its best waterpolo of the season thus far, losing only to heavily-favored Brown in the finale.

Brown, ranked number eight in the country at the start of the tournament, was the only team the aquadudes weren't expected to beat--and they didn't. Nonetheless, Harvard emerged from the weekend bursting with optimism.

"We played a thousand times better than at any other time this season," junior Peter Kaiser said, "and we played one of our best games ever against Brown."

The Brown match, in which the final tally was 9-5, was a dead-even battle until just before the half, when a Bruin goal with less than a minute left broke a 2-2 standoff.

Crimson goalie Don Benson made 20 of 29 saves against Brown, playing "at the top of his game" according to Kaiser. Tri-Captain Bill Wolff also praised his netminder, saying, "the team played well--Don played great."

Wolff noted that the four-goal final deficit marked the closest that a Harvard team has ever come to a Brown first team. Last fall, the Crimson edged Brown's "B" squad, 12-6, on October 4.

To open the tournament, Harvard defeated cross-town rival MIT, 10-4, as Tri-Captain Ben Elizondo scored four goals and junior Wade Stokes had five steals. Freshman John Beber made five of seven saves in his stint at goal.

In the second match, against Yale, the Crimson crushed the Elis, 13-4, with Elizondo scoring another hat trick.

Elizondo, a junior, kept up the torrid pace Saturday morning with his third consecutive hat trick in Harvard's narrow 6-5 victory over the University of Massachusetts. Kaiser said that his only disappointment was that the Crimson "didn't beat UMass as badly as [it] should have."

In the Boston College match that preceded the main event versus Brown, Kaiser and Wolff scored two goals each and freshman Nick Branca made three steals to lead the 'dudes to a 7-5 victory.

Wolff praised several of his teammates, saying that freshman Kyle Enright "played extremely well" and "showed alot of leadership" and that Elizandro "played an outstanding tournament."

He also acknowledged the performances of sophomore Nick Gianuzzi--who scored two goals against Brown, including a Hail Mary with seconds remaining in the match--and freshman Nick Branca.

Overall, the Crimson was extremely pleased with its performance. "The team is starting to click together," Kaiser said. "Passes are crisper and plays are clearer."

Sophomore Andy Goldfarb noted that the team "gained a lot of confidence as the tournament went on," and that "the counterattack developed into a potent offensive weapon."

Wolff pointed out that the team has some especially tough matches coming up against top eastern teams at the Eastern League Tournament in Providence, R.I., next weekend.